Ch.101Another Cat Goes for a Walk

W City, Hero Headquarters.

In her underwear, Electris enjoyed a leisure she had never experienced in A City as she grabbed cola and potato chips. Lying on her side on the bed, she held a game controller in her hand.

How long had it been since she could just lie around playing games like this?

Electris thought absentmindedly, recalling her daily routine in A City.

Wake up in the morning, spread her ability to detect monsters with electromagnetic fields, fly around A City to detect villains, eat, detect monsters again, and detect some more before bed.

Monsters whose purpose was to devour humans appeared more easily and frequently in places with large populations.

Therefore, A City had a constant stream of monster approaches throughout the day.

After Meister discovered a temporary solution to drive away Destruction-rank monsters and below, she mainly dealt with Disaster-rank monsters and above.

With Cage’s ability, they could eliminate monsters without worrying about damage.

So it was just elimination, subjugation, elimination, elimination…

Compared to that, W City had far too few monsters.

Electris felt something was strange about W City.

Despite its population density, there were surprisingly few monsters.

It was as if someone had already cleaned up all the monsters in the area.

Yet the heroes of W City claimed this was already a lot for them.

It had been three days since Black Cat disappeared again.

The W City heroes were feeling fatigued from going on daily patrols as monsters gradually increased.

Regardless, Electris was busy getting plenty of rest and sleep for the first time in ages.

“Electris, we need to talk.”

“Don’t you know how to knock?”

Just then, Yu Anna entered without knocking, wearing an exhausted expression.

Electris frowned and used her ability to stop Yu Anna in her tracks.

“Now you’re not even wearing proper clothes…”

“Don’t come in any further. Say what you need to say from there. You smell like monsters.”

“The smell is coming from this room! You should air it out. What kind of smell is this?”

Yu Anna seemed to have just returned from eliminating a monster, giving off the smell of monster fluid burning at high temperatures.

Smelling the familiar scent, Electris emitted aggressive ability waves that stimulated her entire body enough to blur her senses.

Receiving Electris’s warning, Yu Anna stopped at the entrance and glared at her with eyes full of discontent.

“I can’t stand by anymore. While you’re here, you should patrol too.”

“Why should I? I’m not even supposed to be here, remember?”

Electris insisted that she was officially not present in W City.

From the beginning, Meister’s arrival in W City was top secret.

That remained true even now as she stayed temporarily after collapsing from ability overload.

If Electris were to help with patrols because monsters were increasing, wouldn’t citizens notice that Electris was in W City?

“If I’m seen here, citizens will find it strange, and as rumors spread, they might eventually discover that Meister is here too. Why create unnecessary variables?”

“W City has electric ability users too. Just wear a helmet or disguise yourself and pretend you’re not you.”

“What about guarding Meister?”

“You’re not guarding him anyway. You’re just playing around.”

“This is guarding! I’m playing within a distance where I can appear before him instantly with my ability.”

True to her word, Electris was playing around in her room entirely because of Meister.

Recalling the recent Meister, Electris unconsciously frowned.

Lately, Meister had changed.

His habit of not sleeping properly and doing strange things causing trouble had suddenly disappeared.

His face looked brighter after getting proper sleep, and he no longer took his usual medication.

When she visited to check on him out of obligation, instead of unnecessarily using his ability to read minds and speak as he pleased, he actually tried to have a conversation, albeit chaotically.

Even though S-rank heroes told him not to use his ability recklessly, he never listened. Why had he suddenly changed?

Was there something in W City?

“If you don’t like seeing me in one place, go complain about Meister being holed up in his room.”

Still, he remained shut in his room as always.

Meister said he needed to create something and, as usual, wouldn’t come out of his room.

So Electris stayed nearby to guard him.

“You don’t need to protect him from the soldiers anymore, right?”

Just then, Yu Anna said something that irritated Electris.

“I heard the A City heroes and soldiers talking. They said you came not only to protect Meister from monsters but also because you didn’t trust the soldiers.”

“It’s the opposite. Those stupid soldiers don’t trust heroes because we’re ‘obsolete citizens.'”

“Right, right. Our people were dumbfounded when they heard that, wondering if A City was full of idiots.”

“You wouldn’t know since you’re stuck in this backwater W City, but there have been several government assassination attempts on Meister. Saying they might create a new master code, or that he knows too many government secrets.”

“That was just from certain factions within the government, not these guys, right? You’ve talked with them now, so you should know. They’re just Meister fanatics.”

“Hmph.”

That so-called conversation was truly absurd.

In A City, those inferior beings would get angry and not even listen properly when superhumans tried to have a conversation. Why did they suddenly trust and listen to W City heroes?

“We can all protect Meister together, and you should work with us. It’s a good opportunity, isn’t it?”

“What good opportunity?”

“You don’t know the W City patrol routes, right? If you pair up with other heroes, you could get to know them better, not just Iron Might…”

“Huh? Why is Iron Light or Tight or whatever suddenly being mentioned?”

“You only hang out with him, right? All the heroes are talking about it.”

“When did I? Rumors? What rumors? Ugh, this is ridiculous, those filthy people.”

Electris’s voice bristled like raised thorns at the sudden mention of the hero name.

Surprised by her sharp reaction, Yu Anna advised with a startled expression.

“Since it came up, I’ll tell you this. Even if you’re an S-rank hero, it doesn’t look good to drag around an A-rank hero like an errand boy.”

“Errand boy?”

“Iron Might puts up with it because he has a good personality, but do you know what everyone’s saying? That you’re so steeped in superhuman supremacy that you don’t even treat lower-ranked superhumans as people.”

Listening to this, Electris blinked and lowered her voice slightly.

“…What does it matter? And I’m not using him as an errand boy. He just does whatever I tell him to.”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

Yu Anna, seemingly tired of the conversation, spoke with evident fatigue.

“Anyway, you should patrol starting tomorrow. If you and I take turns, Meister’s protection won’t be a problem, and with your ability, cleaning up Homicide-rank monsters is nothing, right? Just go around with other heroes for a little while. And stop bullying Iron Might. He has a good personality, but if you keep treating him like a subordinate, people will hate you.”

“Hmph, mind your own business. What does it matter if I bully some dim-witted A-rank?”

“Sigh…”

It’s true that Electris doesn’t necessarily need to patrol all the way in W City.

Similarly, as Yu Anna said, if S-rank heroes take turns, there’s no issue with Meister’s safety.

In the end, Yu Anna sighed at Electris’s attitude of not wanting to mingle with other heroes and was about to leave the room when she paused.

“Oh, and do you know where Iron Might is? Where did he go? It’s almost patrol time, why hasn’t he come for the shift change?”

“How would I know where Iron Fight or whatever is?”

“You boss him around every day.”

“Ha, so I’m supposed to know everything? You don’t know where Black Cat went either, even though you boss him around every day.”

“If you don’t know, you could just say so. Why do you have to talk like that?”

“Mind your own business?”

Yu Anna frowned at Electris’s response and closed the door.

A moment later, when Electris calmed her ability’s aura, Iron Might rose from under the blanket in the corner of the room.

“Is she gone?”

“Can’t you see for yourself?”

“Oh no, I’m in big trouble. I’m completely late for my shift. Why did she have to come now?”

“That’s why I told you not to sleep in my room until this hour.”

“If you’re the one saying that…”

“Shut up and get dressed properly.”

Iron Might got out of bed and hurriedly prepared to leave.

Electris lay down beside him, eating potato chips and staring at the door Yu Anna had left through with annoyance.

“Why doesn’t that Starlight bitch knock before opening the door? What if she hadn’t sensed me coming?”

“You don’t knock when you open my door either, Ria.”

“Huh? An S-rank opening an A-rank’s room doesn’t need to knock, you know?”

“Yes, yes. But could you be careful about mentioning Black Cat to senior? She’s already on edge worrying about Black Cat suddenly disappearing.”

“Worrying? Why worry about a Despair-rank monster? He’s probably just out for a walk somewhere like when he went to D City.”

As Electris said, the W City heroes expected that Black Cat had gone to clean out a monster nest somewhere nearby again.

Since something similar had happened before and he had returned, they were less worried than before.

However, Yu Anna, who knew that Black Cat could speak, was anxious that he had left without saying when he would return.

Heroes who didn’t know the inside story joked that Yu Anna was anxious because she was suffering from Black Cat withdrawal.

“Senior really likes Black Cat, I guess.”

“A hero liking and worrying about a monster? W City is full of strange people.”

And so the rumor about Yu Anna being a Black Cat otaku grew increasingly serious.

And the other Black Cat enthusiasts…

As Black Cat’s absence lengthened, W City’s citizens were becoming increasingly agitated.

[Where’s Black Cat? Where’s Black Cat? Where’s Black Cat? Where’s Black Cat?]

[I’m not worried about him being dead anymore, but being a monster cat, he sure takes long walks…]

[How far did he go for a walk! Come home and eat something!]

[Blackie… where are you and what are you doing… are you eating properly…?]

Citizens were literally suffering from Black Cat deficiency.

Those who purely wished to see Black Cat even gathered in the park for group prayers.

“The Mi-ong Faction is praying for Black Cat’s safe return! Anyone who wants to join in prayer is welcome!”

“Pray with us now and get a Black Cat keychain!”

“The almighty cat goes forth to catch monsters for human safety, so the day of salvation is not far…”

“When will our kitty come back~ What is he doing and where~”

Faced with these earnest scenes, even those who had been holding Black Cat liberation movement meetings remained silent.

This was neither because they thought they had achieved their goal of liberating Black Cat after seeing him disappear from W City, nor out of consideration for others who wanted Black Cat to return.

[If Black Cat has escaped like this, how much damage will it cause to humanity? If we had dissected him earlier… seriously, next time he returns, we must capture and dissect him.]

[Damn, there are still Wae-ong Faction bastards around?]

[They’re still around even after getting beaten up so badly?]

[If Black Cat really ran away, it’s because of these bastards. I heard Black Cat is smart enough to understand some speech, so it makes sense he’d leave after hearing what they say.]

With Black Cat gone, the highly sensitive citizens had no patience left.

Posts related to Black Cat dissection or liberation on community forums received an enormous number of reports in real-time and were deleted.

Even without reports, administrators would delete them.

“But what if Black Cat didn’t go monster hunting but left for another city because he didn’t like W City?”

“What do we do? We’d have to go there and persuade him to come back.”

“But shouldn’t we just let him settle in that city? Don’t other cities have the right to benefit from monsters like Black Cat too…?”

“Huh? You…”

“Hey! There’s a ‘Wae’ here!”

“You’re caught now.”

“Eek! Why are you doing this! Ah! Aah!”

The moment someone mentioned Black Cat liberation or dissection on the street, fists would fly.

Wae-ong Faction members screamed in pain as citizens beat them, though not fatally.

“Police! We received a report of violence. Stop!”

“Tch! Who reported this!”

“What’s going on here? Why are you beating this person…!”

“H-help me! Over here! I only said Black Cat should be dissected, and these people…!”

“I see. Carry on. I’ll be on my way.”

“W-what?! Police! Police!”

If, by any chance, Black Cat hadn’t gone for a walk but truly left W City, the only reason would be the Wae-ong Faction.

W City citizens, all thinking the same thing, felt no guilt whatsoever in cleaning up the Wae-ong Faction so Black Cat could return.

And so, including the Wae-ong Faction members exposed to violence, everyone in W City waited for Black Cat’s return.

[Praying for Black Cat’s return #324]

[When will our kitty come back? What is he doing and where?]

[There are downsides to having a cat that takes walks…]

[Blackie! Come back before the beef in the refrigerator goes bad!]